Early detection of SSB index using prioritized candidate SSB index ordering

1. A method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment, a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs including the received SSB, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; prioritizing a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein said prioritizing the set of index values comprises determining synchronization signal (SS) channel estimates based on at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) of the SSB, for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining physical broadcast channel PBCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value, and determining a confidence metric for the index value, the confidence metric representing a degree of correlation between the SS channel estimates and the PBCH DMRS channel estimates, and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values; performing one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of the received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of index values based on the prioritized ordering until a valid decoding is detected; and identifying the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

2. A method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment, a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs including the received SSB, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; prioritizing a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein said prioritizing the set of index values comprises for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst, determining a corresponding confidence metric representing a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value, and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values; performing one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of the received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of index values based on the prioritized ordering until a valid decoding is detected; and identifying the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: initiating a random access process from the user equipment to the base station via a random access channel (RACH) using resource blocks associated with the identified index value for the SSB.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: identifying an iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH as providing the valid decoding based on a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) performed on a result of the iteration of the decoding process.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user equipment and the base station are part of a wireless network implementing a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) standard.

6. A method comprising receiving, at a user equipment, a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs including the received SSB, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; prioritizing a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein said prioritizing the set of index values comprises for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS) generated using the index value, equalizing the PBCH DMRS signal to generate an equalized signal, and determining a confidence metric for the index value based on an evaluation of the equalized signal and a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) constellation, and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values; performing one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of the received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of index values based on the prioritized ordering until a valid decoding is detected; and identifying the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

7. A user equipment comprising: an antenna configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signaling representing a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; a transceiver coupled to the antenna and configured to convert the RF signaling to digital data; and at least one processing component configured to: prioritize a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein the at least one processing component is further configured to prioritize the set of index values by determining synchronization signal (SS) channel estimates based on at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) of the SSB; for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining physical broadcast channel PBCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value; and determining a confidence metric for the index value, the confidence metric representing a degree of correlation between the SS channel estimates and the PBCH DMRS channel estimates; and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values, perform one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of a received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of one or more candidate index values based on the prioritized ordering for the iteration until a valid decoding of the PBCH is detected, and identify the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

8. A user equipment comprising: an antenna configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signaling representing a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; a transceiver coupled to the antenna and configured to convert the RF signaling to digital data; and at least one processing component configured to: prioritize a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein the at least one processing component is further configured to prioritize the set of index values by for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst, determining a corresponding confidence metric representing a degree of correlation in both time and frequency domains of PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value; and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values, perform one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of a received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of one or more candidate index values based on the prioritized ordering for the iteration until a valid decoding of the PBCH is detected, and identify the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

9. The user equipment of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing component is further configured to: control the transceiver to initiate a random access process with the base station via a random access channel (RACH) using resource blocks associated with the identified index value for the SSB.

10. The user equipment of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing component is further configured to: identifying an iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH as providing the valid decoding based on a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) performed on a result of the iteration of the decoding process.

11. The user equipment of claim 8 , wherein the user equipment is compliant with a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) standard.

12. A user equipment comprising: an antenna configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signaling representing a synchronization signal block (SSB) of an SSB burst transmitted by a base station, the SSB burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; a transceiver coupled to the antenna and configured to convert the RF signaling to digital data; and at least one processing component configured to: prioritize a set of index values representing SSB positions in the SSB burst to generate a prioritized ordering of index values, wherein the at least one processing component is further configured to prioritize the set of index values by for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value; equalizing a PBCH DMRS to generate an equalized signal; and determining a confidence metric for the index value based on an evaluation of the equalized signal and a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) constellation; and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values, perform one or more iterations of a decoding process for a PBCH of a received SSB using a different candidate index value selected from the set of one or more candidate index values based on the prioritized ordering for the iteration until a valid decoding of the PBCH is detected, and identify the candidate index value used for the iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH that resulted in the valid decoding as the index value for the SSB.

13. A wireless network comprising: a base station configured to wirelessly transmit radio frequency (RF) signaling representing synchronization signal block (SSB) burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; and a user equipment configured to: detect an SSB of the SSB burst; and identify an index value of the SSB by iteratively performing a decoding process for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of the SSB, each performed iteration using a different index values selected from a prioritized ordering of a set of index values representing the positions of the SSBs in the SSB burst, wherein the user equipment is further configured to determine the prioritized ordering of the set of indexed values by: determining synchronization signal (SS) channel estimates based on at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) of the SSB, for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining primary broadcast channel (PBCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value, and determining a confidence metric for the index value, the confidence metric representing a degree of correlation between the SS channel estimates and the PBCH DMRS channel estimates, and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics.

14. A wireless network comprising: a base station configured to wirelessly transmit radio frequency (RF) signaling representing synchronization signal block (SSB) burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; and a user equipment configured to: detect an SSB of the SSB burst; and identify an index value of the SSB by iteratively performing a decoding process for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of the SSB, each performed iteration using a different index values selected from a prioritized ordering of a set of index values representing the positions of the SSBs in the SSB burst, wherein the user equipment is further configured to determine the prioritized ordering of the set of indexed values by: for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst, determining a corresponding confidence metric representing a degree of correlation in both time and frequency domains of PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) channel estimates generated using the index value and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values.

15. The wireless network of claim 14 , wherein the user equipment is further configured to initiate a random access process with the base station via a random access channel (RACH) using resource blocks associated with the identified index value for the SSB.

16. The wireless network of claim 14 , wherein the user equipment is further configured to identify an iteration of the decoding process for the PBCH as providing the valid decoding based on a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) performed on a result of the iteration of the decoding process.

17. A wireless network comprising: a base station configured to wirelessly transmit radio frequency (RF) signaling representing synchronization signal block (SSB) burst comprising a set of SSBs, each SSB associated with a different beam transmitted by the base station and having a corresponding index value representing a position of the SSB in the SSB burst; and a user equipment configured to: detect an SSB of the SSB burst; and identify an index value of the SSB by iteratively performing a decoding process for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of the SSB, each performed iteration using a different index values selected from a prioritized ordering of a set of index values representing the positions of the SSBs in the SSB burst, wherein the user equipment is further configured to determine the prioritized ordering of the set of indexed values by: for each index value of the set of index values representing SSB positions of SSBs in the SSB burst: determining an PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) signal generated using the index value; equalizing the PBCH DMRS signal to generate an equalized signal, and determining a confidence metric for the index value based on an evaluation of the equalized signal and a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) constellation, and prioritizing the index values of the set based on the corresponding confidence metrics to generate the prioritized ordering of index values.